Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sympathetic to my colleague bringing this forward. I serve on the committee where this was first discussed. Again, I won't reflect on the disposition of that outcome. My concern around this is the impact it might have on those small-scale businesses. We talk a lot about wanting certainty in statute when reviewing legislation.

Again, I am sympathetic to the idea of a large chemical plant requiring a posted security. A mandatory security on a retail outlet or something along those lines that has less impact on the land that it occupies, I think, might be a bit of an...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is consistent with other motions that the committee has brought forward, including amendments to bills that I will not reflect on further. This is an important piece of business moving forward into the next Assembly. We have this peculiar artefact in the Petroleum Resources Act that my colleague spoke of where there is a public gazetting process. The federal policy on this is to allow for public comment during gazetting, and in the case of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, outright consultation with Indigenous governments if any regulations are to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, we have an implementation date today at the 11th hour. That was not known until now. I believe firmly that we can negotiate a later implementation date, give Northerners four months of tax relief, and ensure that the next government is the one that decides this, and not this government that is sitting on a last-minute plan that hasn't had adequate public consideration, that hasn't had adequate cooperative development through our legislative processes inherent to this building. I encourage Members to consider carefully how they proceed on this, as this will be a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For those who are not acronym-savvy, SLAPP stands for "strategic litigation against public participation," and this is the use of the courts, essentially, to silence criticism or public advocacy of a project or a policy or something that a private interest does not want to be criticized about. A number of Legislatures are considering similar legislation. The British Columbia Legislature has since passed an anti-SLAPP bill, and it received all-party support in their Legislature.

This is a really important issue. It is imperative that we protect the public's interest to be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to speak in strong support of this bill. The ongoing commitment that this Assembly has made to improve its code of conduct and make changes that will allow it to be enforceable and tangible. It gives much comfort to our citizens and those who expect a high standard of behaviour and conduct from their elected officials. I am pleased to stand in support of this important legislation to improve our democratic institutions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, support this motion. It was a motion that cooperatively and collaboratively developed by the committee. Unfortunately, it did not make it through the committee's public clause-by-clause review of the bill, but it has been kindly brought forward by my colleague, the honourable Member for Frame Lake.

This is exactly, as he says, a one-time review to check in on the health of the act, and it is important because the public who came out to speak with the committee, and who the department engaged in developing the bill, had very high expectation of what this legislation...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the chair said, the committee spent a great deal of time working on this bill, and largely it was driven by the need to cooperate with our sister territory of Nunavut and work closely with their standing committee. That was a very productive relationship, and we were able to communicate some issues that both sides found with the bill.

However, the unique nature of this legislation where one body exists in two different jurisdictions and is governed by two acts, I think the expectation is that how it works in the NWT will be how it works in Nunavut, and that makes very...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee would like to consider Committee Report 30-18(3): Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on the Review of Bill 56: Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act and Draft Code of Conduct; Bill 56: An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 2; Committee Report 28-18(3): Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment Report on the Review of Bill 25: An Act to Amend the Workers’ Compensation Act; Bill 25: An Act to Amend the Workers’ Compensation Act; Committee Report 27-18(3): Standing Committee on Economic...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is another way that we can ensure transparency around the stated goals of carbon pricing to make sure that the impact on cost of living is going towards its intended purpose of mitigating the disastrous effects and deleterious effects of climate change on our fragile northern environment. The stated goals of this need to be around greenhouse gas emissions. Otherwise, why do it? This motion calls for exacting reporting on how effective the tax is being in meeting its stated public policy goals. Thank you, Mr. Chair.